Tag Archives: Jew-hatred

Former President Ronald Reagan famously quipped, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” The wisdom of his words has been proved over and over again domestically as we have seen government agencies turn small problems into big ones and create catastrophes where there were none previously, all at taxpayer expense, of course. Not content with domestic bumbling, our leaders are turning their attention to fixing the world and especially the Middle East…(God help us!!)

The Obama administration is delighted with the progress of “democracy” in Egypt and is intent on encouraging the process. The fact that the two major Egyptian Islamist parties have captured 62% of the latest voting doesn’t seem to worry the optimists in Washington. Didn’t you know that the Muslim Brotherhood is now a kinder, more gentle, moderate organization (secular, too!) Funny thing is that the so-called “moderate organization” has never repudiated its founding charter which says, “Allah is our objective, the Koran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our way, and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.” These are reasonable, tolerant folks with whom US negotiators can certainly hammer out a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and beyond. As I reported last week,

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi

“The Obama administration has turned to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leading jurist, to mediate secret negotiations between the United States and the Taliban.” This is largely “untapped talent” that the US government can utilize to fix the world!

There does seem to be one glitch in this utopian vision – and that is Israel. Those stubborn Jews just don’t seem to be willing to commit national suicide, and that’s a real problem. President Obama in May, 2011, called for Israel to undertake a “full and phased withdrawal of Israeli forces” from “occupied Palestinian lands” to what he termed “borders based on 1967 lines” – the 1949 armistice lines. Israel’s former Foreign Minister and UN ambassador Abba Eban, in 1967, referred to those lines as the “Auschwitz borders.” The country would, at its most populous places, be only nine miles wide. In making this supposedly helpful demand, the President failed to honor U.S. commitments made to Israel by George W. Bush in 2004, commitments which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.

But Bush was an “evil war-monger” and the current resident of the White House is intent on resetting the parameters of our relationship with the Muslim world (can you say dhimmitude?). Therefore we must overlook small foibles of the Palestinians – like the refusal of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, their glorification of murderous terrorists as national heroes, their attempted unity deal with Hamas, etc. And, in order to fix the Middle East, we must force Israel to sit down at the negotiating table with a bunch of savages who want to wipe them out and sign a “peace agreement” which won’t be worth the paper on which it’s written.

Speaking of peace agreements, the new Egyptian government has threatened to cancel the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of March 26, 1979. This was a land for peace deal in which Israel gave up the Sinai in exchange for peace, albeit a cold peace at best, with Egypt. Caroline Glick, in her latest blog, The Land-For-Peace Hoax, asks the question,“will the US act in accordance with its role as guarantor of the peace and demand that the new Egyptian government give Sinai back to Israel?… if the Obama administration or whatever administration is in power when Egypt abrogates the treaty does not issue such a demand, and stand behind it, and if the EU does not support the demand, the entire concept of land-for-peace will be exposed as a hoax.”

Of course it’s a hoax; it was never intended to be anything else. And the chances of real concrete assistance from the US and the rest of the Western world as suggested in Ms. Glick’s article, are pretty remote. If current attitudes toward us don’t change, when we in Israel hear the words, “We’re from the United States government and we’re here to help!” we’d be wise to run in the other direction as fast as we can go!

Like an out-of-control cancer, Jew-hatred is insidiously spreading its tentacles around the world. It’s rearing its ugly head in every country and unashamedly showing itself, frequently disguised as self-righteous anti-Zionism, in every kind of venue imaginable.

The tens of thousands of articles, books and blogs that have been written on anti-Semitism (just a watered-down name for Jew-hatred) haven’t touched the heart of the issue. All the well-intentioned attempts at identifying the roots of the problem, outlining its history and suggesting solutions have done virtually nothing. The beast continues to grow, even, sorry to say, infecting many Jewish people.
C’mon, you might say, you’re just being paranoid – or sensationalist – or you’re looking under every rock for signs of Jew-hatred. I wish that were the case. But this week, as I went to my usual sources, as the title of Dr. Jonathan Spyer’s article says, …Jew Hatred is on Full Display.

How is it being displayed?

• Number of anti-Semitic incidents
Is Jew Hatred really on the rise? According to a posting on CNN.com, a report by the US State Department says the answer is definitely YES – and on a world-wide scale! The report details physical acts of anti-Semitism, such as attacks, property damage, and cemetery desecration. It also lists manifestations such as conspiracy theories concerning Jews, Holocaust denial, anti-Zionism and the demonization of Israel. “Over much of the past decade, U.S. embassies worldwide have noted an increase in anti-Semitic incidents, such as attacks on Jewish people, property, community institutions, and religious facilities.”

I recommend a weekly check of the CFCA website (The Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism) at http://antisemitism.org.il/list/1. It is a valuable tool for those who want to grasp the scope of Jew-hatred throughout the world. Sadly many Jewish people, especially in the US, will pay very little attention to things like that until the monster touches their own personal lives – and by then it may be too late to do anything about it. In my newsletter I have included four examples from the above website coming out of Switzerland, Australia, Mexico and the United States.

• Intensity of anti-Semitism
Prior to the United Nations Durban II anti-racism conference in April, 2009, the European Jewish Congress and Tel Aviv University jointly released new survey findings regarding worldwide anti-Semitism. The report brought out two new phenomena:

1. The Operation Cast Lead effect – “after Israel’s Operation Cast Lead against the murderous Hamas terrorist organization, 250 anti-Semitic incidents of all types were counted (in January, 2009), compared to 35 during the same month in 2008. An estimated 1,000 incidents occurred in January 2009 around the world, including nearly 90 violent cases – three times more than in January 2008.”

From this we can conclude that any legitimate action that Israel may take to defend herself will be met by vicious outbreaks of hate and violence.

2. Equating Nazism with Israel – The report states that “anti-Semitic expressions evident at the beginning of 2009 were not classic stereotyping of Jews and Israelis, but rather abuse of the Holocaust as a political tool against Israel. The analogy of Israelis/Zionists/Jewish supporters of Israel with Nazis became almost an axiom.”

What is really being said is that just as Nazism has no right to exist, neither does Israel. An apartheid state has no legitimate right to exist either, and so the same people who call Israelis Nazis have branded Israel an apartheid state. Who cares that nothing could be further from the truth? It’s got a certain ring to it that appeals to activists who are looking for a cause – poor Palestinian under-dogs, starving children, etc., etc. And that’s what sucks in clueless Liberal Jews…you gotta feel good…never mind that what you’re doing may not actually be right or good (in their mind-set there’s no right and wrong anyway and there’s no such thing as an enemy; the “enemy” is just some poor schlemiel whom we haven’t yet “reached out” to enough).

• New sources of anti-Semitism
Because of technology, the internet and social networking, we are seeing anti-Semitism becoming more innovative. This weekend we were introduced to a new form of anti-Israel activity – the Air Flotilla (also called Flightilla and Flytilla). Pro-Palestinian “activists” from various countries including the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands planned to arrive at Ben-Gurion airport and make a ruckus to embarrass Israel. At least we didn’t need Paul Revere to warn us: “one if by land, two if by sea, three if by air”? No, the warning came from Israeli Intelligence. Many of the leftists were intercepted and sent packing before they could even board their Israel bound flights. Those who made it on their flights were met by a “greeting committee” on arrival at Ben Gurion and after being interrogated most were sent home.

Another positive note – the Gaza Flotilla (by sea) seems to have fizzled. Thanks to the government of Greece, the ships that docked in Greek ports were forbidden to continue on to Gaza and many of the provocateurs returned to their respective countries, including the 50 activists on the US Audacity of Hope.

Lest you be left in a state of doom and gloom, I’d like to end on a note of encouragement. This is the end of the story – and those who attend synagogue sing it every Shabbat morning, usually not really thinking about the words. Think about them – because this is reality!

והיה יהוה למלך על כל הארץ ביום ההוא יהיה יהוה אחד ושמו אחד

And the LORD (the God of Israel) shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The LORD is one,”
And His name one.
Zechariah 14:9

“For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (meaning “God judges”);
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.” (Joel 3:1,2)

The prophet Joel describes a time in history, for him personally still far in the future. At that time, after God has brought His people Israel back to their own land, He Himself gathers all the nations against them – for the purpose of judgment, judgment for having scattered and persecuted the Jewish people and for having divided up “My land”. The land of Israel belongs to God…woe to those who mess with it!

Are we living in those days and at that time?

Maybe, although we have to be careful not to get dogmatic and start setting “prophetic” dates like some American preachers who at this point can remain nameless. However, we can and should examine trends to see where they’re leading.

All the nations haven’t yet come against Israel militarily, but the war of words is heating up on many fronts.

At the UN: a recent United Nations meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process was convened in Brussels, June 28 and 29. The theme of the meeting was: “The role of Europe in advancing Palestinian statehood and achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians”. Sounds positive, doesn’t it? Apparently it was anything but. Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s director for international relations, whose organization was the only Jewish NGO to attend the meeting came out of it horrified! He wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, saying that the meeting’s title “was nothing but a political euphemism to campaign for the 27 states of the European Union – and the European institutions themselves – to endorse the September UN General Assembly vote on a Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence.”

In addition Samuels reported that campaigns “resonant of a third intifada” were discussed, including calls for mass demonstrations beginning in July in Israel, Europe and North America under the title United for Palestine Independence.

The animus and rancor toward Israel was so intense that he spoke of “veiled threats” made by delegates, quoting some as saying that “this mother of all conflicts can bring violence to all the nations of the world”.

The Gaza Flotilla: preparations are moving forward for another provocative attempt to break Israel’s legitimate blockade of Gaza. This year’s flotilla contains the first ship from America named, The Audacity of Hope. The endeavor was endorsed by President Obama’s good friend, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi. Khalidi, who helped raise $370,000 for the effort, has called Israel a “racist” state with an “apartheid” system. Two participants on this adventure cruise to Gaza are Code Pink founders, Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, both of whom have close ties to the Obama administration.

U.S. Policy: Will the United States be one of those countries that come against Israel in the time of Joel’s prophecy? Up until recently it would be hard to imagine such a thing. But whether through insanity, naivete or malice, the Obama Administration has just established a policy of formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood. The agenda of our new negotiating partner? Islamicizing societies, ultimately establishing a global caliphate, destroying Israel and incrementally expanding sharia throughout the West. As Andrew McCarthy, author of the book, The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America, said, “don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

We’re being warned and it’s not enough to wring our hands and groan, “Oy vey!” Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Do not allow evil to triumph. Do not sit by and do nothing.